What New FinCEN Guidance Means for US Bitcoin Companies

Faisal Khan is a payments consultant and digital money evangelist. He is the co-host of Around the Coin, a weekly podcast on banking, money and payments, and is also the resident payments expert on Quora. This article, which originally appeared on Faisalkhan.com , has been republished here with permission from the author. On October 27, 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released new guidance for custodial bitcoin exchanges and payment processors, ruling that such companies may be considered money services businesses under US law. The few days since then have been very hectic. Besides fielding calls from lots of people, everyone is asking the same question. What can a bitcoin company, operating in the US, now do to get back to business? In the points below, I look at the most important issues facing bitcoin companies under the guidance and consider the...